A Mom's My First LeapPad Review

My First LeapPad is the version of the original LeapPad that the LeapFrog company put out to capture the toddler market. They have succeeded in capturing the market, but I think they have largely failed at creating a toy that lives up to the standard of the LeapPad. (You can read my review of LeapPad Here.)

Let me first say that I am a huge fan of LeapPads -- they are a great educational toy! Along the same line, I think the My First LeapPad is a great educational toy. It teaches numbers, letters, shapes, colors, and a variety of other simple, toddler-friendly subjects.

The real problem I have with the My First LeapPads are structural and durability issues.

My son has a My First LeapPad, and he absolutely loves it. What he doesn't know is that we have replaced it two times! They seem to break very easily. Let me give you some examples:

The first time we had to replace the My First LeapPad is when it just started wigging out -- for lack of a better term. One day I could hear my son yelling at the lady talking in the LeapPad about how that was the right answer. When I checked what he was doing, he did have the right answer but the LeapPad kept telling him it was wrong. He was very frustrated.

So I tried changing the batteries - no change. I tried different books - no change. I even tried to take it apart and see if there was a fuzzy or something that was causing a problem - no change. The only thing I could guess is that he had pulled the cord on the pen too much and caused a short or it just had a bug in the system that we didn't notice until he started getting more of the answers wrong.

Anyway you look at it, it wasn't doing him any good telling him that he was wrong when he was giving the correct answer. So we replaced it.

A few months later, now on his second My First LeapPad, we were at his sister's swimming lesson and he was playing with it to keep busy when he dropped it. Now, keep in mind that he did drop it on the pavement, but it was only from about a foot off the ground. Well, it started doing the same thing the first one did before we replaced it.

Feeling pity on him for a mistake any 2 year old could make, I replaced my son's My First LeapPad for the second time.

Now we're on his third My First LeapPad and it is showing signs of doing the same things that the first two did before we replaced them.

They turn off for no reason, tell you the answer you give is wrong when it isn't, sometimes won't recognize the cartridge that you put in or change back to the default story half way through a book, or do other crazy computer oriented strange things.

You may wonder why I replaced his My First LeapPad twice. It's simple. He really liked the stories that were only available with My First LeapPad (Like Dora the Explorer, Leap to the Moon, and Tad's Silly Number Farm). My First LeapPad is smaller and more easily managed by a younger child. Lastly, he just loved the toy so much that I didn't have the heart to tell him it was broken and throw it away along with all the books that he loved that would be useless.

All things considered, I guess you could say that I have a love-hate relationship with My First LeapPad.

I love the educational value of this toy. I love that my son will sit for long periods of time and quietly play with it. I love that he loves it so much.

I hate that My First LeapPad clearly has some computer bugs that need to be worked out. I hate that they would build a toy for toddlers that wouldn't withstand dropping it one time from a foot off the ground. I hate that they only make some of the great toddler and preschool stories for My First LeapPad and not for the original LeapPad.

As I said earlier, the My First LeapPad that my son currently plays with is showing some serious signs of needing replacement soon. I won't replace it with another one. Instead, I plan on buying him the LeapPad Learning System . (You can read more about his on the LeapPad Review page.) I only hope that this one will hold out until Christmas so that I can make it a Christmas present.

As for my recommendations on My First LeapPad... If it were more durable, I would heartily recommend it. As it stands now, I recommend the original LeapPad instead. It has a lot of features on it that will appeal to very young children and they are developing more all the time. In addition, My First LeapPad really won't grow with your child the way LeapPad will. Skip this model and get a LeapPad instead -- you and your child will both be happier and less frustrated it you do.